Rotary blade safety razor



July 1, 1952 E. c. GARRARD ETAL ROTARY BLADE SAFETY RAZOR 2 SHEETSSHEET 1 Filed Jan. 4, 1949 July 1, 1952 ME. c. GARRARD ETAL 2,601,721

ROTARY BLADE SAFETY RAZOR Filed Jan. 4, 1949 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 Patented July 1, 1952 ROTARY BLADE SAFETY RAZOR Ernest Charles Garrard, Maidenhead, and Kenneth Harrold, Taplow, England, assignors to 1 The Fairey Aviation Company Limited, Hayes,

England Application January 4, 1949, Serial No. 69,096 In Great Britain J anuary 29, 19.48

2 Claims. (01. 30- -43) This invention relates to a safety razor of the type in which a bladed rotary member is. ar-

ranged to be revolved within a head which. may

be of cylindrical or other shape and is formed,

longitudinally with a slot, one side of which is sharpened to constitute a fixed cutting edge and the opposite side of which. is of comb-like con.-.

figuration to constitute a safety guard.

In some razors of this type it is necessary to provide means. for adjusting the eccentricity of the axis of the rotary member relatively to that of the cylinder to ensure a. predetermined degree of, cut, and proposals have been made to provide suchmeans for pre-setting by the manufacturer. With such means it is not possible, however, for the degree of cut, e. g. coarse, medium or line, to be pre-selected or varied by the user.

To overcome this, and to provide means readily operable by the user, we have, in the, specification. of our co-pending United States applications Serial Nos. 775,690 and 87,266, now Patent Nos. 2,594,764 and 2,586,022 respectively, shown a head, for a safety razor of,the type described, in which the inner peripheral dimension of the head can. be, expanded or contracted by the user so as tovary the width of the axial gap in the head within which the rotary bladed member revolves. The desired dimensional adjustment may be efiected, for instance, by movement axially in relation to the. head of a wedge, by rotation in the head of an eccentric, or by moving towards or away from one another tongues projecting from the head at opposite sides of the slot where its cutting edge is formed. 7

The axis of rotation of the rotary bladed member always maintains a fixed position relatively to the fixed cutting edge, variation of thewidth of. the axial gap being attained by movement of the comb.

In these and other constructions described and illustrated in our said specification, the head has been formed in one piece, which has been sprung to vary the width of the axial gap by virtue of the inherent springiness of the material from which the head has been formed. We have now found that in some designs of head this has resulted in the introduction of secondary distortions tending to how the fixed blade. While it is possible to overcome or prevent such distortions by local weakening of the head, such methods are not always desirable, and we have therefore evolved a modified form of head to obviate theintroduction of such secondary distortions.

According to the present. invention, a head for a. safety razoro! the'typehereinbeiore described, provided with meansreadilyoperable by the user for expanding and/or contracting the inner peripheral dimension of said head, is formed in two parts arranged to be hinged along an axis parallel with and substantially diametrically 0pposite the axial slot in the head.

The hinge may comprise interdigitated tongues formed on the two parts and apertured to receive a hinge pin, or alternativelyit may comprise a knife-edge formed on one of the parts and a groove, arranged to receive the knife-edge,

formed inthe other part. Spring means may be provided to urge the. two parts toward one another.

The expansion and contraction of the head may be controlled by an eccentric cam rotatable about an axis parallel with. the longitudinal axis of the head Such a cam may comprise a pivoted selector bar provided with a pin or like member arranged to engage an eccentric cam groove formed in the head.

Another form of cam may comprise a disc concentrically arranged within the head and rotatable relatively thereto, the head being formed with a projection directed radially inwardly, and the disc being formed with two or more circumferentially spaced recesses of progressively varying size arranged to engage the projection in difierent angular positions of the disc, one or more of the recesses being smaller than the projection.

The expansion and contraction of the head.

fixed pins arranged to be movable in grooves in "the head extending in the general direction of the axis of "the head and converging towards one another. In another form, the wedge member may comprise a plate formed with convergent slots arranged to engage pins secured to the head.

Several embodiments of the invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, which for convenience are larger than.

full-size, and in which:

tional plan showing a selector bar engaging the end of the head,

Figure 4 is a diagrammatic end elevation of another head showing a further form of hinge,

Figure 5 is a, fragmentary perspective view of yet another -formof head,

Figure 6 is an end elevation of the head in the open position,

Figure '7 is a diagrammatic end elevation of a further form of head,

Figure 8 is a fragmentary perspective view of a wedge means for controlling a head,

Figure 9 is an end elevation of the wedge member shown in Figure 8,

Figure 10 is a fragmentary perspective view of another form of wedge means for controlling a head, and I Figure 11 is a perspective view of the wedge member of Figure 10, showing the other side.

Referring to Figures 1, 2 and 3, a hollow cylindrical razor head I 2 is formed longitudinally with a slot l3, at one side of which there is a fixed cutting edge M and at the opposite side of which there is formed a comb-like construction |5 to constitute a safety guard. Within the head l2 a bladed rotary member is mounted on a spindle l8 carried in bearings I! each housed in a slotted disc I8. I

The head I2 is formed in two parts, |2 and I2 formed with interdigitated tongues I2 |2 as shown in Figure 2, the tongues being apertured to receive a hinge pin l9. Around the ends of the head l2 C-shaped springs 28, 2| which embrace the hinged parts I2 |2 of the head and tend to force them together may be fitted, the hinged parts in turn embracing the discs I8.

Mounted on pivots 22 on the part I2 of the head is a selector bar 23, which carries at each end a pin 24 projecting into a cam groove 25 formed in the part l2 of the head. This groove is formed eccentrically relatively to the arc struck by the pin 24 turning about the centre 22, and is arranged so that as the selector bar 23 and pin 24 move across the end of the head |2 from left to right, as viewed in Figure 1, the upper part |2 of the head is brought nearer to the lower part l2 turning about its hinge pin I9 and so bringing its edge l5 nearer the edge l4 of the lower part l2 The axial gap is thus decreased in width.

The part l2 of the head is formed with three radially extending circumferentially spaced grooves 26, 21 and 28, and the selector bar 23 is formed with a rib 23 extending along the inner sides of its ends and capable of being sprung into or out of any of the grooves 25, 21 and 28. In this way difierent settings of the head may be readily obtained by the user.

It is to be noted that the C-springs 28, 2| are an optional feature. If desired, movement of the part |2 relatively to the part I2 may be controlled entirely by the selector bar 23, pin 24, and groove 25.

In Figure 4 there is shown an alternative method of hinging the parts l2 and |2 of the head; Instead of having interdigitated tongues, these parts are formed with a knife-edge 28 and a V-groove 38, respectively, extending along the length of the head the parts being urged by C- springs as before.

In Figures 5 and 6 there is shown a modified construction, the upper part of the head l2, termed ll2 being provided at each end with a cam plate 3| secured by rivets or other suitable means, and formed with a slot 32 similar in general shape to the groove of the previous embodiment. The selector bar 23 has at each end a pin 24 located so as to be in the slot 32, and by movement of the selector bar about its pivot 22 the position of the pin 24 in the slot 32, and hence the width of the axial gap l3, can be varied. The

4 part N2 of the head I2 is formed at each end with depressions 33, 34, 35 into which the pin 24 may be sprung to retain the selector bar 23 in the selected position.

Figure 6 shows how the selector bar 23 and upper part 2 of the head may be swung away (after removal of the C-springs 20 and 2|, if fitted) to allow access to the rotary bladed member (not shown) e. g. for cleaning.

In the construction shown in Figure 7, the head is formed of two hinged parts, l2 and 36, the latter being formed at each end with a pip 31. A disc 38 is formed with three circumferentially spaced notches 39, 48 and 4| of successively decreasing size, the largest notch being just large enough to accommodate the pip 31. The discs 38 are secured to the ends of a selector bar 42.

When the pip 31 is in the notch 39, the parts 38 and |2 are held by the spring 28 to embrace the disc 38 closely, and the width of the axial gap I3 is at a minimum. When the selector bar 42 is turned so as to bring the notch 48 opposite the pipe 31, only the end of the pip is accommodated, as shown in Figure 7, and so the width of the axial gap I3 is increased. When the pip 31 engages the smallest notch 4| the width is still further increased.

In Figures 8 and 9 there is shown an embodiment in which the parts 43, 44 of the head, hinged at l9 as before and embraced by springs 20, are formed with converging grooves 45, 48, which receive pins 41 projecting from a wedge member 48 provided with a stud 49 slidable in a guide- Way 50 in the head. Axial movement of the wedge member 48 enables the hinged parts 43, 44 to be adjusted as required'to provide a setting of the width of the axial gap 3, the slotted disc l8 being attached to the part 44.

Figures 10 and 11 illustrate a modification of this construction, the wedge member 48 having a plate 5| formed with converging slots 45*, 46 in which pins 53, 54 projecting from the parts of the head are arranged to be slidable. The plate 5| has a rib 52 riding in the axial gap l3 and acting as a locating member for'the plate. As in the previous embodiment, axial movement of the wedge member 48 enables the setting of the width of the axial gap'l3 to be adjusted; x I

In both embodiments described with reference to Figures 8 toll, axial movement of the pairs of Wedges 48 or 5| is co-related by the user sliding the head in taper slots provided on a convenient portion of the razor'container or the like,

as described in the specification of our co-pendedge and said safety guard to form a. slot, there-. between, one of said members beingformed with' an eccentric cam groove and the other member having a pivoted selector bar provided with pin,

means for engaging the eccentric cam groove,

movement of the selector bar about its pivot controlling 'the expansion and contraction, of the ead.

2. A head for a safety razor formed with a tunnel and having a'bladed rotary cutting elemcnt arranged to'be' revolved in the tunnel, said head comprisinga first member having a cutting 2,601,721 I 5 l f edge, a second member having a safety guard, REFERENCES CITED said first Second bemfimnged The following references are of record in the permit ad ustment of the relative position of said me of this patent: cuttin edge and said safety guard to form a slot therebetween, one of said members being formed UNITED STATES PATENTS with a cam groove disposed tangentially of the Number Name Date periphery of said rotary cutter, and the other 907,974 Crouch Dec. 29, 1908 member having a pivoted selector bar provided 1,730,004 Gregson Oct. 1, 1929 with pin means for engaging the eccentric cam 2,229,972 Holsclaw Jan. 28, 1941 groove, movement of the selector bar about its 10 pivot controlling the expansion and contraction FOREIGN PATENTS of the head. Number Country Date ERNEST CHARLES GARRARD. 410,573 Germany Feb. 12, 1924 KENNETH HARROID. 488,329 Germany Dec. 12, 1929 

